Pubdate: Sun, 11 Aug 2013
Source: Gazette, The (Colorado Springs, CO)
Copyright: 2013 The Gazette
Contact: http://www.gazette.com/sections/opinion/submitletter/
Website: http://www.gazette.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/165

COLORADO TOWNS OPTING OUT OF RETAIL MARIJUANA SALES, WITH GOOD REASONS

With the Palmer Lake Town Council's 4-1 vote Thursday to ban 
recreational marijuana sales, potential markets for over-the-counter 
pot sales - without a doctor's note - are quickly dwindling 
throughout the Pikes Peak Region.

Palmer Lake joins Colorado Springs, Monument, Woodland Park, Green 
Mountain Falls and Fountain in deciding to opt out of a decision by 
statewide voters that, in part, created an option for retail sales. 
Local governments cannot free themselves from the law's provision 
that allows personal cultivation of six plants and possession of up 
to 1 ounce of the drug for each person over age 21.

About all that's left in the metro area is Manitou Springs, which 
will host a work session to discuss the issue Aug. 13.

Even Loveland, a free-spirited city not far from Boulder, has chosen 
to join the majority of Colorado communities that are opting out of 
recreational drug sales.

The trend should signal that Colorado Springs made the right decision 
when it voted 5-4 last month to forgo sales. Representatives of the 
people throughout our community do not think it's in the best 
interests of the Pikes Peak region. And, no, it's not a slight to the 
majority of area residents who voted to legalize recreational 
cultivation and use. The constitutional amendment they voted for 
clearly leaves the matter of retail sales up to local governing 
boards. That is the law the majority voted for and it's the law 
politicians respect when they choose no sales.

After Councilman Val Snyder surprised the community by voting against 
commercial sales, he made wise statements that all should consider.

"The key point was a combo of two things - the number of 
uncertainties that would come with retail sales and things that would 
come downstream," Snider said of his vote.

So what might come downstream? How about losing future and current 
defense contractors who will question the wholesomeness of a 
community that makes buying drugs a lot like buying candy. Or how 
about military brass choosing to pass over Colorado Springs the next 
time they relocate or create a new unit. The military wants drugs 
harder to get, not easier.

As Snyder put it: "This town has never had anything like this before 
and the unintended consequences that would surface I don't think have 
been thought through."

With most Colorado cities, counties and towns opting out of retail 
sales, those who opt in will become magnets. They may experience 
in-state, national and international drug tourism that will do more 
harm than good. Those who think it might somehow help a community, to 
become a vacation spot and home to disproportionate numbers of 
recreational drug users, need only look to Amsterdam.

Dutch officials are coming out in droves declaring that marijuana has 
turned the city into a bastion of sleaze, avoided by upscale tourists 
who don't like the sight of gangs, pimps, hard-drugged homeless and 
prostitutes. Amsterdam legalized pot as a means of reducing hard-drug 
use and it appears the experiment backfired.

So congratulations to Palmer Lake, Colorado Springs and the growing 
list of other cities that are just saying "no" to recreational retail 
sales of pot. Colorado voters legalized personal use and possession. 
They left sales up to locals for good reason.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom